Welcome to YAWB (Yet Another Whiskey Blog). What’s the point, you ask?
- All the reviews are by the same person, which provides you with a benchmark. You can get to know my taste and whether is coincides with yours.
- I talk about value. All whiskies have some good to them, but I try to ask it, is the good worth the price you’ll pay? My prices are in U.S. Dollars and you may be in Euros or renminbi, but again, it’s a benchmark.
- I’m photographing in a consistent setting with high resolution so you can really see the spirit. (Click on any photo for high res.)
My approach to reviewing whiskies is to do sleuthing, to put together a picture of how each whisky fits into the bigger picture: why it is made the way it is, how it fits into the marketplace, what’s its hook.
I’m not a formally trained whisky drinker. My nose is decent (I notice things my family members and friends do not), but I can’t tell you if the pepper note I smell is Tellicherry or Malabar, or whether it was picked on the full moon in the seventh month. I’ll leave that level of distinction to others. Just plain-speaking opinion and observation.
What am I getting out of this?
A serial organizer, I categorize and record stuff all the time. I’ve got tasting notes on every whisky I’ve tried — so the information is there. I like to write, it’s relaxing.
Where does the whisky come from?
I get no freebies, except now and then swapping with the neighbors. So, since the kids haven’t crashed any cars lately, and the house hasn’t burned down, and the wife doesn’t shop us into debt, I can afford to spend a little on decent whiskies. Now and then I get a crack at something fancier courtesy of a friend, or I’ll buy a pricier bottle for a special occasion. But for the most part I’ll focus on the whiskies most of us can find, and afford.
Why is there other stuff on this site?
Yes, I have reviews of some books I read. I’d get bored writing solely about whiskies. Also, this is a great place to show off how interesting and funky is my home town, Portland. It’s like Portlandia, in many strange and wonderful ways.
AlbinoTree.Net: Whisky (and book) reviews 